All Posts Tagged With: "Manhattan"
LEED-EB for MTV (& SL Green) at 1515 Broadway in Times Square
SL Green has started a $160 million capital improvement program at 1515 Broadway- home to MTV’s Times Square studios- which will upgrade the tower’s HVAC, lighting, and other building systems in pursuit a LEED-EB Silver rating from USGBC. Designed by architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, the renovation will also include the installation of a 42-foot high extension to the 54-story building’s street-level curtain wall, where pedestrians can peer into the MTV space and access the lobby of the Minskoff Theater. Steve Cuozzo quotes SL Green leasing chief Steve Durels as stating that the firm’s “goal is to give [the building] more street presence and more drama, especially as you look at its lower part.” SL Green purchased the 2 million-square foot tower back in 2002 for $480 million, and its green upgrades come in advance of the pending expiration of nearly 1 million square feet of the total 1.5 million in the building currently leased by Viacom.
Popularity: 4% [?]
4Sep2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
ML: Credit Crunch Taking Bite out of Manhattan LEED Buildings
Two of Manhattan’s highest profile LEED projects took blows on the chin last week. After announcing in July that it would likely reduce the tower’s size by nearly a third, Vornado’s plans for Harlem’s first office tower in thirty years appear to be on the ropes. Despite generous tax incentives from both the city and state, Vornado has had difficulty obtaining financing for the Swanke Hayden Connell-designed Harlem Tower. Instead, the developer recently sought an additional $15 per square foot from planned anchor tenant MLB Network and, alternatively, also proposed building a five-story building exclusively for the network. The Times reports that both strokes “infuriated” MLB executives, who “wanted to be in a marquee tower on 125th Street.” Meanwhile, downtown, 2008 Pritzker Prize winner Jean Nouvel’s LEED-hopeful 100 Eleventh Avenue is currently $50 million over budget and close to a year behind schedule.
Popularity: 17% [?]
25Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Gehry Out at BAM, 510 Madison Tops Out, Wind Farm at Fresh Kills, & Glass on 11 Times Square
gbNYC selects green news items of note that were reported across the New York City area during the week of August 17, 2008, including Frank Gehry withdrawing (or perhaps not) from the Theater for a New Audience project at the BAM Cultural District in Fort Greene, the recent topping out of Macklowe Properties’ LEED Gold hopeful 510 Madison Avenue, a proposal for a wind farm on the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, and the energy-efficient glass skin of SJP Properties’ 11 Times Square- also pursuing a LEED Gold rating- beginning to take shape above Eighth Avenue.
Popularity: 15% [?]
24Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Final Asking Rents at LEED Platinum Bank of America Tower Hit $185/SF
Hedge fund HBK Investments, which last summer signed on for LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower’s 40th floor at $135 per square foot, has officially terminated its commitment for 12,000 square feet of that space. The Dallas-based firm will still retain 24,000 square feet on the 40th floor and the Dursts will now seek to lease the freshly freed space for an incredible $185 per square foot. The only space in the building that remains in addition to HBK’s former space is 30,000 square feet on the 37th floor, where the Dursts are asking the same rent; the family will consider partitioning either space into blocks for smaller tenants. According to Eric Engelhardt, one of Durst’s vice presidents for leasing, “[t]here is a greater universe of smaller tenants looking for high end space.”
Popularity: 16% [?]
20Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Rough Tuesday for Green Buildings in Midtown
Yesterday was not a good day to be a green building under construction in Midtown. First, Steve Cuozzo reported in the Post that Macklowe Properties’ 510 Madison Avenue, which is currently pursuing a LEED Gold rating from USGBC, has received a partial stop-work order from the Department of Buildings. Later in the morning, a 5 ‘ by 13′ panel of glass fell from the 51st floor of Cook + Fox’s LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower. The panel landed on sidewalk bridging across 42nd Street (where the former Verizon Building continues to undergo a number of green retrofits), shattering and sending one person to Bellevue. Tishman Construction is serving as the construction manager for both of the projects
Popularity: 18% [?]
12Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
American Apparel Bringing Green Retail to Hell’s Kitchen
As Racked reports that American Apparel is close to opening its twentieth store in New York City, we’ll note that the retailer’s Hell’s Kitchen outlet is currently in pursuit of an unspecified level of LEED for Commercial Interiors certification. The store at 610 9th Avenue will soon by joined by other iterations at 429 Broadway (Broadway and Howard) and 2103 Broadway (at 73rd Street). No word on whether the retailer’s 19 other New York City area outlets will also implement sustainable features or pursue a LEED rating. American Apparel was founded in 1997 and is based in Los Angeles. The company has implemented a number of sustainable initiatives at the corporate level.
Popularity: 14% [?]
12Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Seeking LEED Silver, 100 Park Avenue Bucks Market, Inks Anchor Tenant
SL Green’s 100 Park Avenue was the first of Park Avenue’s International Style high-rises. Located at the corner of East 40th Street, the modern glass and steel tower was completed in 1949 and replaced the Murray Hill Hotel, which dated from 1883 and whose residents put up a fierce battle against the new development. The building’s current owner, SL Green, is wrapping up an 18-month, $72 million capital improvement program that includes a LEED for Existing Buildings (”LEED-EB”) application aiming for a Silver rating from USGBC. The project includes upgraded building infrastructure, a new facade and windows, and a new lobby and elevators; BOMA named the tower its Best Renovated Building of the Year for 2007. Last week, accounting and consulting firm BDO Seidman signed a 121,441-square-foot lease across the tower’s 9th through 11th floors.
Popularity: 15% [?]
11Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
ML: Helmut Jahn’s 50 West Street Breaks Ground in Pursuit of Gold (Video)
Time Equities broke ground in a ceremony back in June on 50 West Street, a 65-story, $600 million, 580,000-square-foot mixed use tower that will rise along Rector Street, just a few blocks south of the World Trade Center site. The New York-based developer anticipates LEED Gold certification for the project upon a 2011 completion date. The base of 50 West Street will include a 5-star hotel offering 155 units, as well as retail space, with 280 condominium units sitting above. Designed by Helmut Jahn, the project will include a variety of sustainable design features ranging from automated blinds to a green roof, efficient plumbing fixtures, and renewable and recycled-content construction materials specified by architects of record Gruzen Samton. 50 West will be Jahn’s first executed design here in New York City since the CitySpire back in 1987.
Popularity: 16% [?]
11Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Century-Old 14 Wall Street Earns 2008 Energy Star Designation from EPA
Regardless of your perspective, it’s critical to keep in mind that the most sustainable of buildings is the existing building, particularly when retrofitted for energy efficiency improvements and other green enhancements. Capstone Equities and The Carlyle Group’s 14 Wall Street- which dates from 1912- recently earned a 2008 Energy Star award. The 37-story tower, which stands along Nassau Street between Wall and Pine, across from the New York Stock Exchange, was designed by Trowbridge & Livingston and was designated as a New York City landmark in 1997. There are now twenty commercial buildings in New York City that have received the Energy Star designation from EPA, including Cass Gilbert’s New York Life Insurance Building at 51 Madison Avenue.
Popularity: 17% [?]
6Aug2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
City Council’s Infrastructure Task Force Debates Solar Power Installations
During a panel discussion that was held earlier today at Hunter College, local alternative energy experts and city officials debated how Gotham might encourage increasing solar power to public and private buildings. The City Council’s infrastructure task force organized the forum, and co-chair Daniel Garodnick explained that under current regulations, a building owner is required to pay the costs of hooking a solar power system to the Con Edison grid. It’s not that simple, though; a 32-page .pdf document called “Standardized Interconnection Requirements and Application Process for New Distributed Generators 2 MW or Less Connected in Parallel with Utility Distribution Systems” sets forth the parameters. The New York Times’ City Room blog reports that one idea the task force is considering is creating various “solar empowerment” zones, where neighboring buildings that are suitable for solar installations could tie their arrays together and pay for just one connection to the Con Ed grid.
Popularity: 18% [?]
31Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Shoppers Will Soon Meet Their Other Face at LEED Gold 510 Madison Avenue
Although Apple recently backed off leasing office space at Macklowe Properties’ LEED Gold hopeful 510 Madison Avenue, the developer does have some fresh good news to share in advance of today’s planned topping off of the 350,000-square-foot, 30-story tower. Famed luxury watch purveryor Tourneau has inked a 3300-square-foot lease for retail space at the building’s East 53rd Street corner. Macklowe Chairman and CEO Billy Macklowe told the New York Post that the property should be ready for occupancy by the end of the year. Although Macklowe has only inked one office tenant to date (investment outfit Jay Goldman & Co.), Mr. Macklowe is confident that the tower will perform as planned. “I think all markets cycle,” he told the Post. “We’re still in the Plaza District, the premier business district in Manhattan.” The Post reports that the project’s shimmering glass curtain wall- already rising along Madison Avenue- is debuting to rave reviews from neighboring tenants. Asking rents for the retail space secured by Torneau were $600 per square foot.
Popularity: 16% [?]
30Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
HSBC Close to Joining Silverstein at LEED Gold 7 World Trade Center
Last June, HSBC announced a five-year, $100 million partnership to address global climate change, agreeing to work with The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the World Wildlife Fund in order to quantify the impact of climate change on the world’s cities, forests, and rivers through extensive field research. Yesterday, sources told GlobeSt.com that the bank is close to continuing its sustainable efforts by leasing 300,000 square feet across seven of the final ten floors available at Larry Silverstein’s LEED Gold 7 World Trade Center. Should the deal close, HSBC would likely sell its 500,000-square-foot headquarters tower at 452 Fifth Avenue in Midtown. Asking rents for the final ten floors at 7 WTC are hovering between $75 and $85 per square foot, and HSBC’s deal is rumored to be “at term sheet at the moment.”
Popularity: 30% [?]
30Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Midtown Midsummer Green Lease Update
Although the local real estate market has certainly cooled in the past few months, leasing activity at two of Midtown’s highest profile green commercial projects continues to remain hot. Marathon Asset Management, which agreed to pay $115 per square foot for the 38th and 39th floors at LEED Platinum hopeful Bank of America Tower in early 2007, recently agreed to a 5-year sublet for a portion of its space with Korean financial firm Mirae Asset for $150 per square foot. Although Marathon isn’t the only financial services firm that’s looked to shed space in light of current market conditions, it’s a good sign that demand is still strong for premium Class A space, though whether One Bryant Park’s green features are driving the significant lease premium is obviously pure speculation. Meanwhile, at LEED Gold hopeful, 350,000-square-foot 510 Madison Avenue, only one tenant has signed a lease, albeit at a whopping $150 per square foot.
Popularity: 20% [?]
29Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued-
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